Officials say the United Arab Emirates has arrested and extradited a suspected child sex exploiter to the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Filipino man suspected of abusing more than 100 children in the Philippines with his gang by selling their nude pictures online – including some of him being raped by his cronies – was arrested in the United Arab Emirates and flown back to Manila on Thursday, officials said.

Philippine Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and his colleagues received the suspect, a computer expert, from authorities in Dubai and escorted him back to Manila.

United Arab Emirates authorities arrested the suspect after the Philippines requested a Red Notice from Interpol, which flags people considered fugitives for law enforcement worldwide, Philippine police officials said.

“The message to all those who heartlessly abuse minors is clear: there is no safe place for you to hide. Wherever you go, you will eventually face the law,” Abalos said in a statement.

He described the suspect, identified as Teddy Mejia, as a “notorious and ruthless grand child trafficker.”

The suspect and his gang lured girls ages 9 to 11 by sending them 500 pesos ($9) in exchange for photos of their faces, Abalos said. He then manipulated the image to show a naked body and blackmailed the victims into taking even more compromising photos, which he then sold online to foreign customers.

“Some of the victims were raped and filmed during the assault, and the footage was also sold,” Abalos told The Associated Press by phone. “This is really disgusting.”

Some victims were blackmailed and were so desperate that they committed suicide, said General Rommel Francisco Marbil, chief of the Philippine National Police.

The sexual exploitation of children on the Internet has flourished in the Philippines due to Poverty and widespread availability of internet connections, Marbil said.

Brigadier General Portia Manalad, director of the National Police's Women and Children Protection Center, said authorities began investigating in May last year after some victims asked for help and provided details of the online activities of the suspect and at least six other members of his crime syndicate.

Investigators identified at least 111 victims. About 30 of them, tracked down by law enforcement officials, mostly from provincial regions, gave statements that enabled Philippine authorities to file criminal charges against the suspects and obtain warrants for their arrest, Manalad said.

In recent months, four suspects were arrested in the Philippines before Mejia, the alleged leader of the syndicate, was tracked down and arrested in the United Arab Emirates, Manalad said.

Abalos and Philippine police officers presented a handcuffed, face-covered Mejia to journalists at Manila International Airport.

“We tracked him through the online money trail,” Manalad told AP, without giving further details.